11/07/2008

Television static is now broadband gold.The Federal Communications Commission's decision to open up the 'white spaces' spectrum to unlicensed devices could usher in a new telecom revolution, say analysts.Like WiFi, the availability of free, unregulated spectrum could create new technologies and new markets, bringing superfast wireless connectivity to the masses. Unlike WiFi, it could also put pressure on wireless carriers."All the PR spin and FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) failed in the face of physics and the ground reality of engineering," says Sascha Meinrath, research director of the wireless future program at the New America Foundation, a non-partisan public policy think-tank."Opening up white spaces will lower the cost of communications by facilitating new technology, software and devices is an enormous win for public interest," he says.